"Welcome to the Hellmouth" / "Bring on The Night"

[red_satin_doll]

"You're standing at the mouth of Hell. And it's about to open up." *

***
"I'm beyond tired. I'm beyond scared.
I'm standing on the mouth of Hell and it's going to swallow me whole. And it'll choke on me." **

* Joss Whedon
** Marti Noxon & Douglas Petrie

Comments

[kikimay]

I love parallels between S1 and S7. <3 They are so appropriate.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Gold star for first comment! *Hugs* I knew you'd like this; I saw the WTTH scene in a fanvideo the other day and Angel's line just popped out at me like, whoa. I suppose I could accompany it with a little analysis but why gild the lily?

I love parallels between S1 and S7.

I'm really fascinated by the early seasons again although I haven't done a proper re-view of 1-3. Ironically, Seasons 1 & 7 are the generally acknowledged in mainstream fandom to be the "worst" seasons or "least favorite" or whatever, but I'm very fond of both of them (of course I'm quite fond not only of underrated seasons but episodes as well.) Some people even attempt to argue that 1 is not a true season, just an extension of 2, and that it hadn't found it's footing (true enough); but dismissing it is just crazy-talk. The foundation of the entire show, the seeds of everything to come, planned or not, are right there from the beginning.

And S7 - S7 fans need safe space for our love! I try to provide.

[kikimay]

I also like S7 very much!
S1 is a cute young thing. It's the start. Basically, as you say, the main themes of the show have their bases on S1. The only thing that still bugs me is the late '90 sense of fashion.

[comlodge.livejournal.com]

Wow. It's hard to see that this is the same person. So young and little girl in the first; so grown, world weary, knowing and strong for it in the second, We've watched her grow from an innocent girl, shy of her responsibilities to a young adult who has grasped what life has thrown her and done her best to not only cope but make a life worth living. From being led, being told, to leading and telling.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You've written the best summation of this I could imagine! I envy the way you capture the essence of things.

And I love the way that Buffy's story works as a whole; but then my experience of it, watching it within three weeks, was more akin to reading a novel than watching a tv show in real time. (I can't imagine what that would be like.) It varies for all of us, but there's so much in her story that I recognize and understand; and the deeper I dig, the richer it gets. At the same time, the digging raises more questions; there are some very problematic issues, but that becomes it's own layer of interest and inquiry.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I also like S7 very much!

S7 fans unite!

The only thing that still bugs me is the late '90 sense of fashion.

Well, mostly I find it amusing because, let's face it, teenagers often have rather bizarre tastes; but some of Buffy's skirts left me wondering if they were going to go basic instinct on us. Seriously. (And those skirts don't disappear until - S3? Can we agree to thank the Universe that Sarah eventually got more control over Buffy's wardrobe?)

[kikimay]

But '90 fashion was a mess! I mean, look at Mad Men fashion (sixties): it's much much better.
Anyway, I read somewhere - I don't remember - that Sarah got more control over Buffy's fashion and that she picked the long skirts instead of the short ones. I start loving Buffy's sense of fashion from S4.

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

Heh I thought her season 4 wardrobe was a bit too frumpy with the long skirts and shawls, but I loved the way she started dressing in seasons 5-7. It felt like it was the first time Buffy started working what I call "regular clothes", jeans, regular tops, and sweaters that you would actually see in real life, as opposed to many of the bizarre outfits they would put her in early on. I always thought it was weird that you didn't see Buffy wearing jeans even once during the high school years, they always seemed to kind of dress her towards a particular theme each year in seasons 1-4?

[frelling-tralk.livejournal.com]

I love Buffy's character journey over the course of the show :)

[kikimay]

I love S5 to S7 fashion. And, yes, she's much more believable with jeans but she also wears sometimes really cute outfit. In S4 she's really young student/mode on. And personally I ADORE the cherries dress she wears in the Restless dream. It's so cuuuute!

[comlodge.livejournal.com]

You are the best stroker of my ego. :D

I think you have nailed the reason for my clarity though, and very simply. I too have watched the series after it was complete and in marathon sessions of multiple episodes that began with the later seasons.

The layers are, I think, why the show continues to attract and fascinate fans. It is why I'm caught. It's a woman's journey from daddy's girl into the grown up world with all it's ugliness that makes you want to run away, to the woman, who does not actually conquer life, but rather learns to trust her instincts and gains the real power, that we can't control what life throws at us, but we have the power to decide how we deal with it, how we live it.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

Around mid-S2, I think the super short skirts disappeared, perhaps right around the time contract extensions were signed. I shudder to think how uncomfortable filming the fight scenes in NKABOTFD must have been. That "dress" was really just a long shirt.

S7 was probably my favorite for Buffy fashion. S6, I liked too and the latter half of S5. The first half had some unfortunate choices. *cough*The Replacement*cough*

[beer-good-foamy.livejournal.com]

...holy shit, I love the "Bring On The Night" speech. Lovely parallel too.

Angel's dialogue in WTTH/TH really is chock full of thematic hooks - "She did it. I'll be damned." Yes, you will.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

NABOTFD

I'm not even going to try to remember what that stands for - but the garment you describe sounds familiar.

The first half had some unfortunate choices. *cough*The Replacement*cough*

This was also the period of Buffy's pink trousers in BvsD; then there was that pink satin shirt she wore after Riley left her. Yikes. Of course the first half of the season also had Riley, which is why I don't rewatch it very often.

Basically I agree with you about S5-7 esp regards Buffy; when blackfrancine described Buffy as "elegant" this is the period I'm thinking of.

BTW - have you ever seen The Bitter Buffalo's "Buffy Fashion Roulette"? It's very amusing.
http://msjacks.wordpress.com/tag/buffy-fashion-roulette/page/2/

[velvetwhip.livejournal.com]

Excellent parallel.


Gabrielle

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Heh I thought her season 4 wardrobe was a bit too frumpy with the long skirts and shawls,

I actually used to enjoy wearing long skirts with combat boots and peasant blouses in college because I was enjoying playing with clothes as costumes. (And because I had almost no money and combat boots from the Army surplus store were super cheap and durable.) So there are some rather bizarre choices in S4 but I can identify. Maybe it's part of the "Buffy is trying to find her identity as an adult" idea that I was going through. (Or maybe just some bad choices by the costumers.)

but I loved the way she started dressing in seasons 5-7. It felt like it was the first time Buffy started working what I call "regular clothes", jeans, regular tops, and sweaters that you would actually see in real life, as opposed to many of the bizarre outfits they would put her in early on.

I love her costumes in that period as well. So simple and spartan. (Let's face it - the house scene in Smashes is a 1000x hotter because she's entirely covered up, not despite it. And I love how in that scene and in OMWF, she and Spike are actually colored-matched to one another, and yet it somehow doesn't come off as matchy-matchy.)

I think there is something to this thematically as well, though - it's the period when Buffy has to grow up in a hurry; be a surrogate parent to Dawn, leave college and work, etc; it's her period of downward economic mobility. I also associate this as a contrast to Joyce in the early seasons; it used to annoy me that we rarely saw Joyce work, she was always put-together, the house immaculate, etc; nor did we see her at the gallery. She was as idealized as June Cleaver with her pearls in the 1950's; and maybe it was a blind spot on Joss & ME's part, but in hindsight it actually works very well thematically, at least for me; when I was a kid I certainly had a skewed notion of how hard my mom worked or what her life was actually like, even though we are much lower on the economic ladder than Joyce. It wasn't until I moved out of the house - indeed, until I had to drop out of college - that I really appreciated how hard she worked. And once I had to leave college, the era of clothes as "play" disappeared for the most part. I wear jeans and sweatshirts and the skirts and pretty things rarely come out to play.

Of course Buffy has a much nicer wardrobe than I do, but I think there's something similar here? Playtime is over. (There's also the fact that in S6 after Smashed her clothes are very conservative - she uses clothes to hide rather than reveal her body.)

you didn't see Buffy wearing jeans even once during the high school years

I haven't done enough of a rewatch to double-check that; she does wear a rather utilitarian pair of trousers at the end of Ted (like a more fashionable version of cargo pants); and the overalls and dungarees in Ted, Becoming, Anne, Helpless are more symbolic than anything. (Although I think fandom oversimplifies just what they symbolize.)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I ADORE the cherries dress she wears in the Restless dream. It's so cuuuute!

I might like it more if it didn't have cherries on it? Cherries have long been symbols of 1) virginity, and/or 2) sexual desire and fulfillment; so when I saw that print on a dress in which nearly everything is some sort of symbol, I thought "You have got to be kidding me. Really, Joss?"

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

I love your Anne icon but then I get you confused with norwie! ;)

holy shit, I love the "Bring On The Night" speech.

Oh yes, very much so. (Except maybe for the "any questions?" line at the end, but Buffy has a habit of not knowing when to stop once she gets rolling with a speech, f.ex. "Grave".) I don't look at who wrote the eps generally so I had no idea Marti was one of the writers of this one, so now I have something else to point to when I read people dissing Marti.

I had forgotten the line in WTTH even though I'd rewatched it recently; I didn't catch it until I saw a fanvid on YouTube the other day.

"She did it. I'll be damned." Yes, you will.

Hee. I almost posted a cap of Angel saying that line to her, but then I found myself wanting to snark about Angel (gee, can you vague it up a bit, dude?) when I wanted the focus to be on Buffy. But - watching that scene is so funny in light of what comes later. "You're a lot shorter than I thought you'd be." I know people try to incorporate that into a cogent explanation - that he was lying about having seen her at Hemery, etc - but "the writers changed their mind later" works for me too.

And yet it's nifty that despite what does change, the foundation of what's to come is still there. (I'm watching Bones right now - for the sheer wtfery of it at this point) and it's instructive to compare the two, and see the difference between careful and sloppy (IMO) storytelling.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

It's supposed to be Never Kill a Boy... Dunno what happened to the K.

[kikimay]

I didn't know this association between cherries and virginity until I started reading English fanfics. I think we don't have it! I'm more like: cute dress. Cherries are cute and red. :3 (Also, she wears another cherry dress in The Freshman, but the second one is cuter in my opinion)

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

You are the best stroker of my ego. :D

It's what I do. :)

I too have watched the series after it was complete and in marathon sessions of multiple episodes that began with the later seasons.

I do think that makes a huge difference. BTW, where did you start? If you started with the late seasons, did you have any difficulty "sliding in" so to speak? I watched it in strictly chronological order and can't imagine it any other way because so much of what happens in any given episode builds directly on what came before - sometimes seasons before. With other series I'll cheat, I'll jump ahead, etc; I was never tempted to do that with Buffy.

It's a woman's journey from daddy's girl into the grown up world with all it's ugliness that makes you want to run away

And I'll add, a mommy's girl as well - and I don't mean that as a perjorative term; Joyce is so central to her life in a way I understand as the daughter of a single (divorced) mom, as you know.

to the woman, who does not actually conquer life, but rather learns to trust her instincts and gains the real power, that we can't control what life throws at us, but we have the power to decide how we deal with it, how we live it.

Yes, exactly. Our culture is very insistent that winning, success are the important things, the measure of us (how much money we make etc) but the important things are whether we can handle our difficulties with a measure of grace. It's not about getting it perfect, it's about trying. And it's about young people who live in a world with few stable parental figures, trying to measure out their own moral compasses, and learn that what we're told growing up is not necessarily the truth; it's up to us to suss that out for ourselves.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

*nods* Buffy's my BDH because she speaks to me in very real ways. And that's a tribute to the acting, the writing, etc.

[infinitewhale.livejournal.com]

I didn't mind the pink leather (pleather?) pants in BvsD. It had a nice top to it as opposed to the dyed pants and tank top made from the carpet of a 70's Chevy van thing going on in The Replacement. As far as I'm concerned, Riley bought it for her and she wore it out of obligation.

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Oh duh! I kept trying to search my memory for that one. That actually is one of the more forgettable episodes. Not bad, just not memorable. but then again I think IRYJ, Beer Bad and Doublemeat Palace and Him are way underrated. so what would I know?

[red-satin-doll.livejournal.com]

Thanks hon!